by John Corwin
My eyebrows almost flew from my forehead in surprise. "Was that a compliment?"
Fjoeruss shrugged. "Merely an observation." He turned back to Cinder. "We should inspect the final preparations." With that, the two flew toward the neat square formation of gray men standing near the tripod golems.
I led the Skywraiths to the Templar command platform hovering in the center of the back lines and held up a fist. The flight groups behind me stopped while I dove down to speak with Thomas.
"How long ago did the enemy arrive?" I asked.
"Perhaps twenty minutes. They tripped our outer wards. Before we could respond, they launched a series of destructive spells that laid waste to a long stretch of jungle." He tapped on his arctablet. "We suspect they portaled in and then rushed to clear a path."
As I watched, it seemed more and more enemy soldiers appeared from thin air in the distance. "Why don't I see their portals?"
"Camouflage screens." He waved around the city. "We have several such screens around the city so they can't see in."
"Won't they think it's kind of strange that they can't see El Dorado?"
He shook his head. "The spell makes it appear as though the city is empty. I just hope none of their scouts have penetrated the perimeter."
The enemy lines grew closer and closer. The tension in the air felt as thick as the humidity. I felt like prey lying in wait for the hunter to draw near, hoping by some miracle to kill him before he killed me. I repressed a shudder and regained my composure. "The Skywraiths are ready to go on your command," I told Thomas. "Hopefully we can make a difference."
He reached out a hand. I grasped his and gave it a firm shake.
"Good luck, Justin."
"Same to you, sir."
Elyssa approached from her station and took my hand after Thomas released it. "I love you, Justin." She swallowed hard. "Please, be careful."
I got off the broom and squeezed her to me. "No matter what happens, I will always love you." I kissed her, not even the tiniest bit ashamed to do it in front of her father and everyone else. But time was fleeting and I had to go. Trying to push back the fear clenching my heart, I released her. "Be safe, my love."
She took a deep breath, nodded. "Kick Daelissa's ass, baby."
I gave her a toothy smile. "As you wish." I hopped on the boomstick, rose into the air, and zipped across the army toward my father.
He grinned when he saw me coming. "Nice ride, son."
"I know, right?" I dropped down to his eye level. "Are the Daemos ready to kick some booty?"
"We are ready to end this war," Kassallandra said in a cold, hard voice. "Without goliaths, I predict Daelissa's forces will fall more easily."
Dad didn't look quite as convinced. "We've got a couple of contingency plans in case things get hairy."
"House Salomon stands ever ready to advise," Godric said from his perch on a flying carpet. "Victory through wisdom."
How about victory through a punch to your face, you pompous asshat? I wondered if he would fight this time or hang back as usual.
Yuuki, also on a carpet, drifted toward us. "The infernal hands of Haedaemos stand ready to aid our cause." Members of House Wakahisa burst into cheers.
I wasn't really sure how to respond to her declaration so I kept it simple. "Excellent. We need all the infernalness we can get." I turned to my father. "Now, if only I could get the dragons to help us."
Dad put a hand on my back and leaned closer. "They're stubborn, Justin."
I lowered my voice to match his. "They fought alongside you centuries ago. Why not now?"
"Back during the first war, Moses had problems getting them involved." He looked around, but the other Daemos were distracted by Godric as he launched into a soliloquy proclaiming his wisdom. "I don't know what Moses did to make them change their minds."
"He didn't tell me anything before he died." I growled with frustration. "It's too late to do anything about it now."
Dad nodded. "I'm sorry." He gave me a firm hug. "I-umm…" He cleared his throat. "Just want to say, I love you, son. I just needed you to know…in case."
I blinked back the mist in my eyes. "I love you too, Dad." I backed up a step and gave him a stern look. "You'd better survive this. Mom will never forgive you if you die."
That brought his smile back. He looked toward the Skywraiths. "She and I said our goodbyes last night."
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. "Don't talk like that. We're all going to live long and prosper, okay?"
Dad's face grew serious. "I want you and Elyssa to have a happy future. No matter what happens, remember that you have a gift more powerful than all the armies in the world." His hand gripped my shoulder. "You have true love, son. It will get you through the darkest days and the coldest nights." Dad gazed at the encroaching army. "It'll get you through this and whatever comes next."
A terrible feeling gripped my heart and I wondered if this might be the last time I saw my father alive. "The love you have for Mom is no less strong," I said. I looked him straight in the eyes. "Don't ever forget that."
His serious expression vanished behind a smile. "I never do." He cracked his knuckles. "You'd better get back into formation. We don't have a lot of time before the enemy reaches us."
I nodded, rose into the air, and headed back to the Skywraiths. The Brightling army was perhaps ten minutes out, but every second seemed to tick past slower than normal, like the cook timer on a microwave when you're starving and waiting for your food to heat. An advancing army was, unfortunately, a bit more frightening than the mystery leftovers in the back of the fridge.
I swung my broom into position just above the Skywraiths so they could hear me speak. "This is the moment we've all been waiting for," I shouted. "Today is the day we take down Daelissa. Her tyranny ends here!"
The Skywraiths roared with cheers.
"That's my big brother," Ivy declared proudly.
I smiled though inside I felt grim. The army on the near horizon easily outnumbered us. We had to make every person count. There could be no retreat today.
I heard shouts and screams from the ranks of the catapult operators below and dove closer so I could see what was happening. Soldiers in the back ranks dissolved into doughy white globs and sprang onto the Arcanes. A white-hot shock of horror stabbed into my chest.
"They have Flarks!" I shouted. I spun to the nearest person on a boomstick. "Fly to the Templar command platform and tell them we're under attack by Flarks. Daelissa already knows we're here!"
The seraph streaked away.
I circled a hand above my head to gather the others closer and thought furiously about what to do. "Who here can dual channel?"
Several hands went up, including Ivy, Mom, and those in my group. "Attack the Flarks with Stasis, but try not to hit our own people."
"That requires channeling with both hands," Mom said. "How are we supposed to control the broom speed?"
"You'll have to take your hand off the throttle while you channel," I said. "The broom will maintain the same speed. If you're not comfortable with that, don't come." Not wasting another second, I dove toward the bubbling tide of Flarks. How so many of the creatures had infiltrated our ranks, I didn't know. That was when I realized some of them were seeping from cracks in the stone and from holes in the sides of the pyramids. I suddenly realized why Daelissa had taken her sweet time attacking. She'd sent Flarks to spy on us. By now, they had to know everything.
Fleshy blobs leapt from one target to the next. Many of the catapult operators lay deathly still while others rolled on the ground screaming after contact with the Flarks. I released the throttle. Took aim at the closest shape-shifter. Weaving together Murk and Brilliance, I channeled a wave of gray Stasis as the creature leapt for more prey. The beam struck it in midair. The Flark shrieked, but its screams were short-lived. It froze into a solid gray lump and thudded to the ground like a rock.
More screeches pierced the air as Ivy and the others struck down more of
the shifters. Unfortunately, I knew the things weren't dead. Without a drain ward, I didn't know what else to do but confine the monsters. But how could we imprison them on such short notice? We had diamond fiber containers in the caves below, but they were too large to fit through an omniarch portal. I knew from experience Flarks could squeeze through anything that wasn't magic resistant.
What else could contain them?
The answer slapped me in the face with its simplicity. Flarks were creatures of almost pure magic. The one thing that could, without a doubt, contain pure magic was a containment circle. I waved to the troops below me. "Clear this area!"
I had to shout several more times before they heard me over the din of battle. Abandoning their posts, they ran back until I had a wide space to work with. Channeling a thick beam of destruction, I carved a circle in the stone plaza. I parked the boomstick, hopped off, and pressed a thumb to the circle.
Willing the circle to let magic in, but not allow it back out, I closed it. The air within the container thickened with the static feel of aether. I heard a shriek and looked up in time to see a Flark leaping for me. I dove out of the way. The blob passed over the circle and thudded to the stone tiles.
Figuring this was a good time to test my theory, I hopped over the blackened groove in the stone and prepared to hit the Flark with Stasis. The creature shifted into a giant mouth with sharp teeth and flung itself at me. The instant it reached the circle, the air flashed with a bright light and threw the Flark back inside.
I touched the communication pendant on my collar and set it to transmit to the squadron. "Put the Flarks inside the big black circle I made. If you can't channel Stasis, use a bubble of Murk to trap them temporarily."
As I ran back to my broom, I heard a whooping noise and looked up. Ivy flashed past, dragging a massive gray blob trapped in a sphere of Murk. She flung it toward the circle. The ultraviolet bubble vanished and the gray blob separated into four Flarks, which plopped to the ground.
I got on the broom and zipped back into the air. The other pilots had trapped many more shifters, though we had no way of knowing if any had escaped and blended back into the crowd. Within minutes, the ground inside my impromptu circle was littered with white and gray blobs. The Darklings who weren't adept enough to channel Stasis were skilled with Murk and able to trap the shifters.
Unfortunately, the damage was done. Dozens of Arcanes lay dead or severely wounded, and many of the catapults had been destroyed. More Arcanes came forward to man operable catapults, but we'd lost over half of them.
Bella, Rai, and the other instructors who'd volunteered for bomber duty swooped down and gathered two crucibles each, placing them into satchels attached to the sides of the boomstick saddles. With the catapults gone, we'd need her crew more than ever.
Thomas's voice sounded through my comm pendant. "What's the situation?"
"The Flarks are contained." I told him about the catapults.
"We just lost most of our long-distance offensive capabilities." Thomas's voice was grim. "That puts more pressure on the Skywraiths."
A low rumbling noise reached my ears. I spun the broom to face the oncoming horde. The forest behind the waves of enemy troops flickered and vanished, revealing a wide clearing. In the middle of the clearing stood the unmistakable form of an Obsidian Arch. My stomach twisted into knots. Even more troubling than the arch was what walked through it.
Goliaths.
Chapter 34
I could've sworn I heard a collective gasp rise from our army. I couldn't blame them. I felt like throwing up.
"Daelissa must have used a cube to grow another arch," Mom said.
Bella nodded. "The ley lines near El Dorado are certainly powerful enough to support one."
"Crap, crap, crap!" My vocabulary had become as limited as my ability to think. "How are we supposed to fight that?" Four of the lumbering behemoths had already emerged from the arch. The rest of Daelissa's army halted and cleared a path for the goliaths. It didn't take a military genius to figure out what would happen once they reached our front lines.
I focused my gaze on the threatening horizon. We had at least fifteen minutes before the goliaths made it to the enemy lines. "I have to talk to the dragons. They're our last chance." I signaled a halt and called the omniarch operator in the caverns below El Dorado.
A moment later, a portal opened in the courtyard. I ducked and flew the broom through the opening. Without pause, I spun left and guided the boomstick out into the main cavern. The dragons were there, but they weren't sleeping as usual. Lulu was growling at Altash. The big red dragon turned his head away from her as I rose to his level. His large, parietal eyes settled on me.
"We need your help," I shouted, trying to project over Lulu's ruckus. "There are over a dozen goliaths bearing down on us. Without you we don't stand a chance."
Altash made a thoughtful rumbling noise. The pupil in his eye narrowed to a slit. WE CANNOT. IF WE ENTER THIS FRAY, SO WILL THE ANCIENT NEMESIS.
His voice rang loudly in my head. If I'd been standing, I would have staggered. "Ancient nemesis?"
The image of a massive black serpent filled my mind. It was larger than even Altash. The serpent slithered toward me, massive body racing cross an obsidian plain. With a hiss, it reared up on four legs. Its head split into dozens of smaller heads, each one hissing and striking. Massive wings sprang from its back and launched it into the air. It reminded me of the dragon I'd seen flying over the ocean in Seraphina.
I was suddenly back in the cave, Altash's eye only feet from me. "If you join us, that creature will fight for Daelissa?"
THE TRUCE WILL BE BROKEN. HE WILL STRIKE. OUR MIGHT WILL MATTER NOT.
"In other words, if I get big ass dragons to fight for me, this dude will even the odds for Daelissa." I threw up my hands in disgust. "Why didn't you just tell me this before?"
IT IS NOT OUR PLACE TO FIGHT FOR THIS REALM.
I knew there had to be a lot more to this than just a big evil dragon looking for an excuse to fight. In the vision, I'd seen him on a plain of obsidian. That place looked exactly like the siren realm.
I had one more question for Altash. "What happens if Daelissa wins?"
The dragon turned away from me, apparently unwilling to answer. Lulu growled and moved her massive head toward me. A commanding female voice filled my head.
IF EDEN FALLS, SO FALL THE OTHER REALMS. A rumbling sounded deep in her throat. YOU MUST PREVAIL.
"Wow, thanks Captain Obvious." I had nothing in my arsenal of wits that could convince these creatures to help us. The only things I had plenty of were questions. What was that giant black dragon's deal? Where did the dragons come from? What had happened to the other giant dragons? So many questions, so little time.
I spun the broom around and headed toward the floor so I could go through the control room door. A hissing noise caught my attention. A ley worm the size of a large truck slithered over to me. One side of its snakelike body bore scars where an evil Arcane named Dash Armstrong had used him as a power source before I rescued him.
"Hey Slitheren." I looked toward the back of the cavern and saw several more of the small earth dragons waiting there. "Are you guys just here to watch us get our asses handed to us?"
He hissed and gave me a dirty look. Then again, with his long toothy muzzle and reptilian eyes, most of his facial expressions seemed angry. For all I knew, he was smiling.
Altash has forbidden our direct help.
I jerked my head back in surprise. He'd never spoken to me before. "Look, I understand. Your hands are tied." Considering the dragons didn't even have legs or arms, the idiom might have been lost on him.
We have tunneling duties. It is possible we might stray too close to the surface. It is possible we might accidentally open a fissure up above. Be careful not to fall in.
I felt a trickle of hope drip into the hollow pit of despair where my guts had once been. "Thank you, friend."
I owe you a life debt. The others
feel you have brought meaning back to a dreary existence. We will do what we can. Slitheren's mouth parted into a crocodile smile. It was frightening enough to make a grown man cry. He slithered back to his comrades and they vanished into one of the tunnels.
I hadn't recruited the big guns, but with the help of the smaller dragons, we might actually stand a chance. Alternatively, I might just be deluding myself. On the way back to the control room I passed by rows and rows of weapons where the Templars had set up an impromptu armory after evacuating the Ranch. It all looked like so much useless junk now. None of them could take down giant battle golems. I passed by swords, shields, and even diamond fiber grappling hooks. I'd considered using soggers to make the ground a muddy mess, but we'd used every last one of them defending the Ranch from Daelissa.
"We are so screwed." I was just about to head back to the omniarch portal when an idea struck me in the back of the head. It seemed kind of ridiculous at first, but the more I thought about it, the more viable it seemed. I gathered all the supplies I'd need and went back through the omniarch portal to the surface.
The hopeful look on Mom' and the others' faces faded when they saw me.
"We'll have no help from the big dragons," I said. "But I have a plan." I'd found enough supplies to make six sets of gear for my diabolical plan. I distributed them to Mom, Ivy, Nightliss, Flava, Lanaeia, and kept one for myself.
Circling a finger over my head, I gathered the entire squadron together. "I'll test my plan on the first goliath. If it works, we will move to the next one. The rest of you must keep enemy soldiers on the ground occupied while I go in." I tapped on the comm pendant and informed Thomas of my plan.
"It just might work," he said in a grim voice.
"We have to do it while the goliaths are still far enough out, though."
"Understood. Proceed."
I raised an open hand over my head. "Skywraiths, form up!"
Everyone glided into position. I swung my arm forward and moved out.
Bella flew in next to me. "We're ready to commence bombing."